Should prove to be a great discussion. How is your sactuary decorated?
Or I guess we could talk about the second part and children at Mass.
When our kids were in arms until they graduated from high school, they always went to Mass with us and were QUIET and well-behaved -- or else they got a good talking-to when we got home. (Sometimes taken out to the cry room too.)
While recently in another state, the Parish church that I attended had no permanent Crucifix ... nor did it have kneelers, any visible sign (such as a Sanctuary Lamp) indicating the placement of the Blessed Sacramentin the Tabernacle.
OK, I'll jump in on this:
1. Our parish has just built a new church building. The exterior is brickface, and has a bell tower (not a steeple) on top of the roof. The "bell tower" contains no bells and is for decoration only.
2. The interior has a central aisle, but the seating layout is in a semi-circular pattern. It is painted a blazing white, the only relief from which appears behind the altar. There is a crucifix affixed to the wall and some decorative painting representing lightbeams surrounds the crucifix. It looks nice. The stained glass isn't bad, though because of the semi-circular seating, you can't see much of it except from the back of the church.
3. The altar is three steps up from the congregation. There is no altar rail (of course). The altar itself is made of white marble, and is very nice. The decorating ladies do a nice job with the flowers, though I do wish they'd lose the fake ficus trees that line the back wall. The tabernacle is from the '60s, so it is very plain, but is finally back where it belongs: front and center and easily seen by all. A very plain (no lace) white altar cloth is used.
4. The choir (oops! "music ministry") is unfortunately seated all the way up front and to the left of the altar. What is even more unfortunate is that because of the VERY low ceilings, the acoustics stink. But that's OK, 'cause there are plenty of microphones hanging over the choir. (SHEESH!)
5. The walls do contain the stations (also from the '60s), but there is NO other decoration on either the walls or the ceilings -- just vast expanses of white, white white. Christopher Lowell would have a heart attack with all the undecorated white walls!
6. The Blessed Mother and St. Joseph are tucked away in the corners surrounded by those infernal fake "candles." The statues themselves aren't too bad.
7. In the vestibule, there is a very nice, very old (from before the parish even HAD a church building) statue of our patron, Saint Patrick. Holy water fonts are located here in the vestibule (none in the church itself).
8. There are no confessional booths, only "reconciliation rooms," and the rooms have clear glass doors!
Anyway, that's my church. Over the summer I'm going to do some work on making a few tapestries. Maybe they will accept them, and maybe not. If not, I'll donate them to a convent or something.
Regards,
PS: They had to make one adjustment to the interior design. It seems that the sprinkler system was just a leeeetle bit too sensitive, because the first time they used incense for a funeral, the mourners were...well...sprinkled. The problem has been fixed, now, though.